Camping, Cooking, and Launching Vans off a Mountain (Alaska Car Launch)

Three, two, one. Hey guys, my name is Trent and I live, travel, and game out of the back of this cozy camper van. And as you guys know, I am back in the beautiful state of Alaska traveling around. And in today's episode, we're starting it off somewhere familiar. This here is my buddy John's property, who is a pilot here in Alaska. He owns a pilot training school, loves all things aviation, so much that he purchased a bunch of these retired commercial airplanes that he's converted into these houses that you can stay in. And it's super cool. I've stayed in one of them a couple years ago, and you can watch that video here if you want to see what it looks like on the inside. But they're scattered all throughout the property. He's got a bunch of personal planes that he just takes out into the Alaskan wilderness whenever he wants to. It's really cool. And he's just a really neat guy that you guys are definitely going to see more of on the channel because he's been nice enough to sort of let me stay on his property while I get some work done. And in that process, we've kind of been planning some really fun videos together. So stay tuned for that. But in today's episode, I'm actually about to leave the property and head east to find a really cool campsite for the weekend because it's a special weekend. It is officially the 250th anniversary of America's independence. And you know, us Americans are going to go wild. However, in Alaska, they do things a little different, which we'll see later on in the video. But for tonight, I want to head into town, go to the grocery store, grab a bunch of food to cook out and just celebrate this amazing day. All right, if we're going to grill, we're going to have to get a grill and a couple camping chairs. That might be the one. Definitely need a large. If you're watching this video, it's probably because you enjoy the idea of traveling, being outdoors, camping, survival, whatever. And if you're into that sort of thing, there are a couple tools that I think you need to have in your tool belt to make your life a lot easier while out on the road or on the trails. One of those being a good, reliable navigational app. And I highly recommend today's sponsor OnX OffRoad. It's a fantastic app that helps you find off-roading trails all around North America. But what I really use it for and love it for is the fact that it makes it so easy to find free dispersed camping along National Forest Service roads. Being out in the wilderness is kind of scary, so we like to have cell signal wherever we go. And knowing if the trail you're going on has cell service is really important. And OnX OffRoad makes that easy for you because all you need to do is find your cell provider, let's say Verizon, turn on the Verizon cell service map, and boom, it shows you exactly where your cell coverage reaches. And if it's on the trail you're on near your campsite, you know you're good to go and safe and connected to civilization. On top of that, if you're traveling with friends like I am all the time, they have a group location sharing feature that if you have cell service, you and your friends can group up and it'll show you exactly where each other are on the map. And this app is incredibly easy to use and you can try it out for yourself with the link in the description of this video. You'll get a seven-day free trial. And if you end up loving it like I do, make sure to use my code TrentTheTraveler at checkout to get 20% off the premium or elite membership. Well, ladies and gentlemen, this is camp for the night and it looks like this rain is finally starting to clear up. Perfect timing for us to kick up the barbecue so we can make a July 4th feast. And we drove about two and a half hours east from John's property to find this place. We're right next to this massive glacier down the road here. And as you can tell, there's several other campers here at this spot joining us. We actually struggled to find a spot for the night because there are just so many people out camping this weekend. Tomorrow is officially the big day, July 4th, America's 250th birthday. So everybody's out preparing. But luckily, we found this really sick spot out in this open area with a good mountain view. And man, I am loving that the sun is finally coming out to hang with us. All right, before we fire up the grill, I need a little appetizer. And there's no better appetizer on July 4th than a nice juicy watermelon. That's not good. It's a little bad, which is why it popped open, which is what I was worried about. It's still good. It just has like a weird back-end flavor to it. But the main course is what I'm really looking forward to. I'm going to be grilling some burgers. Oh, good morning. But yeah, I'm about to start grilling up some burgers. I'm thinking of the Hawaiian variety. So there's going to be pineapples involved. It's going to be delicious. And I've honestly never grilled before. So this will be interesting. It's 6.42, guys. Look at how high the sun is in the sky. As you guys know, summer months here in Alaska really doesn't get dark, which is why Alaska does July 4th a little differently here. Because if you were to shoot up fireworks, you wouldn't really be able to see them because it doesn't really get nighttime. So what they do differently, which is what we're actually preparing to head off to tomorrow, it's this huge event that every Alaskan sort of flocks to. But instead of fireworks, they launch cars off the side of a cliff. Yeah, that's pretty American. Pretty Alaskan, if you ask me. Everyone goes there. So we're trying to make sure that we get there early, get a good spot. So we found this campsite pretty close to the event, which is actually by the glacier. And I think tomorrow morning, we're going to head out pretty early, go to the gate until it opens and meet up with some friends there. Watch a cool car launch. It's going to be great. Drink some beer. Yeehaw. Speaking of which, I don't have proper beer, but I do have a non-alcoholic bevy that I'm going to treat myself to. Can't go wrong with a non-alcoholic Blue Moon. Cheers. Happy 250th. All right, let's see how these corns are doing. You OK, Millie? You good? I'm going to hit it with some salt and also this hot honey spice rub. Look at that. Oh, that's good. All right, first up, I'm going to grill the pineapples. Man, it feels good to be an American. Guys, this is quite literally the most American thing you could be doing too. Living out of a van, traveling through Alaska, grilling out on a one wheel with your dogs roaming free. We need some guns. Actually, I think they were shooting guns earlier. Did you hear them? All right, we're putting provolone on these bad boys. Provolone is good with the pineapple. All right, burgers are done. Time to start assembling. I think I'm going to start with a little teriyaki mayonnaise on top. Look at that. Juicy pineapple burger. Lettuce, pineapple, meat, cheese, teriyaki sauce. Dude, that is so good. Wow. That's good. The burger itself, like the meat is seasoned really, really well. Oh, I love being an American. They're having a lot of fun. I don't know if this is a family or what camping over here, but they've got a bunch of ATVs and dirt bikes and they're all riding around. There's like a little trail that goes back toward these mountains. That just seems so awesome. They got all their little dogs running around, kids on bikes. This is Alaska, guys. This is the life. Oh, oh yeah, sure. I'll do the dishes, dude. You made dinner. I'll do the dishes. Okay, Christian. Thank you. Make sure to get that on camera. It's recording now. Thank you, Christian, for doing the dishes for me. I really appreciate that. Well, guys, it's about 9 p.m. It's getting a little late here and dinner was scrumptious. Feeling nice and full and I'm ready to cozy up in the van and game a little bit into the night. However, I can't game too late because we do have to wake up a little early if we're going to get to the car launch early enough in time to get a good spot. So I'm going to game and then get some sleep and then we'll be waking up early in the morning and hitting the road. Good morning, guys. I slept fantastic, but it's time to get this show on the road. So let's get to packing up. Good morning. You about ready to hit the road? We've got a short 30-minute drive to the car launch spot, but first, coffee. Good morning. You guys do iced coffee? Heck yeah. Ooh, these look good. What is this? Oh, it says it on the... I see. Ignore me. Let me get the cherry danish. You got it. And would you like that warmed up? Yes, please. Are you guys going to the car launch? Yeah. You have your tickets already, right? We sure do. Are you guys going? Oh, bummer. Okay, that makes sense. And we live locally. 10,000? There's 10,000 people. Oh, man, this is going to be wild. Thanks, guys. Have a good one. Thank you. That is a lot of people all in one place. A little nervous about that, but I think it's going to be fun still. Happy 4th. All right, guys, we've made it. And yep, there are a ton of people here. And as you can see, there's a huge cliff behind us where they will be launching the cars off of later today. And this is cool. We're right up on this river here. And what a lot of people do to avoid all this traffic and the ticket price, which is about $30, they raft down this river and then camp on the side right here like some of these people are doing, which is also another cool way to watch this. And I think my buddy John is going to be flying in today to watch it. I don't know where he's going to land, though. I need to send him some pictures of all these like strips here. But this is Alaska, baby. I can't wait to see this unfold. All right, I'll be back, Nels. Love you. Good job. It's easier than you think. Oh, this is a good spot to watch the launch. Looks like there's a bridge to a sandbar out here. Let's go check that out. Ooh, Husky Burger. They had brisket back this way. High Five Hand Pies. Not sure what that is. Lots of good food options, which is great because a lot of people are here all day long. Yeah, dude, everybody with their dogs and their kids just hanging out all day. Everybody's so nice. Feeling that American spirit with this view. This ain't a bad way to spend America's 250th birthday. That's for sure. Yo, what's up? I was just coming to see you. What's up, brother? Good to see you guys. This is Jess. I met you and what's your name again? Julian. While I was driving through Anchorage a couple days ago, you guys flagged me down and now we're here hanging out. And then who's this? This is my wife. The wife. Nice to meet you. They're fans of the channel, of course. This is Christian. If you guys watch the videos, you know him. Nice to meet you. What's your name? Lindsey. But yeah, they hooked us up with some tickets here. We were dumb and totally forgot that we needed to buy tickets. Sold out. But you guys hooked us up and we're hanging out. This is gonna be great. We're in the front. Wow. Yeah, it's where they land, basically. Okay. Looks like the sun's starting to come out. Love to see that. And I'm just kind of strolling around, taking this whole place in. This is wild. Look at this guy dressed up like a bald eagle. Look at this car. The Flying Barbie Corvette. So this is one of the cars that's getting launched. USA! Can I put this right here? Yeah, dude. Guys, Jess has scored the best spot. We are literally right in front of where these cars are gonna fall. They're gonna go down this hill and land right here. Are you guys not worried about like getting hurt? Like debris? A little bit. What's really scary is when they don't stay on track and they start coming this way. They start breaking trees down and knocking trees over. So it's pretty wild. All right, yeah. Gotta be on your toes. Got goosebumps. That is crazy. Look at that. That was insane. Guys, there's so much going on. There's planes flying over. Cars falling off the cliff. This is insane. Black smoke. That's not good. That means there might be a fire. There is a fire. There is a fire? Oh, there is a fire. That was so close. Guys, look at how close this car came to us. Plowed right through those trees. Maybe 50 feet away from the barrier. If those trees weren't there to block the blow, it 1000% would have just plowed straight through all of us. That was insane. What a crazy experience. Hey, that's dope, dude. That's ******* sick, man. Thanks, man. I like that thing, man. Thank you. This has been great, guys. Nice meeting all of you guys. It's been a blast. Made it so much more fun than doing it alone. Can't wait to see where you go next. Of course. Keep in touch, guys. Have a good one, guys. See you next time. Millie, I saw some cars explode. Isn't that crazy? Well, guys, that was probably the craziest thing I've ever experienced. I've never seen cars being launched off of cliffs while planes are flying 100 feet off the ground, zip zapping away. There's helicopters. There's people screaming. There's American flags everywhere. This has been so crazy. And this is exactly what I was hoping for this July 4th. I mean, after all, it is the 250th birthday of America. And what a great, fantastic, American way to celebrate it. This is so chaotic and an experience that will live with me for the rest of my life. But 10,000 people are trying to pile out of this parking lot right now. And I'm not trying to sit in traffic all day. So I think Christian and I are going to hang in our vans, chill for a little bit until the traffic dies down. And then after that, we're going to figure out what we're doing next, which I have no idea what that's going to be. All right, guys, I finally have escaped the parking lot. And I'm making my way to meet up with some friends. Someone that you guys might know already. He's a guy that lives here in Alaska and has a really sick truck camper. His name, on YouTube at least, is Truckhouse Life. Timmy. We actually met a couple weeks ago up in Fairbanks. His band was playing a show at a really cool saloon. And we've been meaning to hang out ever since. But our schedules just haven't aligned until today. He actually rafted down to the car launch and was watching it off of one of those sandbars. But he's actually parked up here with a couple friends right next to the river. So I'm going to join them for the night, hang out a little bit, see what we get into. There's Timmy's truck right there. Timmy, you got your one wheel? Let's rip it. That's a cool stick, Millie. Dang, that one looks fancy. You make mine look super lame. For something reasonable. They actually work with Croc's first pair I've had. Oh yeah. This is the best van life camping toy you can get, hands down. You got to get on many trails of yours or not? I've only been on one trail. Oh man, you got to go to Whistler next time you're passing through BC or just get on like, you just look for like low mountain bike trails that are really smooth. Oh yeah. Freelider. Nothing works. Oh, it worked. Let's go. Oh yeah, dude. I was riding the one wheel and it like went out from under me and I did a full on split and then Millie ran up to me and threw up on my face. It was the weirdest experience. What about you? Oh, that's my biggest fear. Oh, Millie's got a friend. Oh, and Timmy's let me play his guitar. What did you guys make? That looks delicious. All right guys, I'm finally back in my bed after a couple of hours of sitting around a cozy campfire by a river in a canyon. With Timmy and a bunch of random people that I've never met before, but I had a good time. Didn't really film much, but it's past my bedtime. I'm getting tired. So I'm back in my bed about to go to sleep. But today guys has been an absolutely incredible experience. One of the best 4th of July's that I've ever had in my entire life. And I am so thankful for this experience. We really got to see a side of Alaska that a lot of people don't get to see. I mean, this is the culture up here. I love it so much and it's just been a really good day. And hopefully you guys had just as much fun as I did. If you did, let me know in the comments below. Make sure to smash that like button. If you enjoyed the video, it helps me out a ton. But of course, if you want to support me further than just a like or a comment here on YouTube, I do have a Patreon that you can go subscribe to right now. Link in the description. By subscribing over there, you'll get access to like 40 plus videos that you haven't seen yet. You won't find them on YouTube. And by supporting me over there, you'll be supporting me and Millie's adventures, of course. But anyway, I'm going to sleep guys. I will see you guys in the next epic adventure. Hit that subscribe button so you don't miss out on it. Until next time, guys. Good night.